Men’s Health Week: Creating Healthy Habits

Men’s Health Week happens every year, the week leading up to and including Father’s Day. This year, I thought it would be important to shed some light on the health issues men are facing, how prominent they are, and how to create healthy habits. Research at the CDC shows that heart disease is the leading cause of death for men in most racial/ethnic groups in the United States. The scary statistics illustrated that half of these men who die suddenly of coronary heart disease have no previous symptoms. This led me to the natural question: What can be done to prevent this? To promote healthy habits, I have created a list of 5 healthy habits to focus on for all men.

Whether you are a husband, father, son, or even a grandfather, here are 5 healthy habits to limit your risk of heart disease.

Get Enough Sleep

According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society, it is recommended that adult men get at least 7 hours of sleep per night. The lack of sleep can increase your risk of obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Clearly illustrating the increased risk of heart disease, not getting enough sleep can also wreak havoc on your mental health, and put you at increased risk of stroke or even premature death. To improve your sleep, be consistent, go to bed at the same time each night, and get up at the same time each morning. I’ll go into more detail below, but also, exercising and being physically active during the day can help you fall asleep more easily at night.

Eat Healthier

The trick to eating healthier is not finding the ‘perfect’ diet to help you shed a few pounds, it is about feeding your body the right nutrients. And to be honest, regardless of what commercials may tell you, there is no perfect diet. When establishing healthier eating habits, incorporate a variety of fruits and vegetables into your diet. For men, one of the main areas of focus is to cut down on red meat and limit foods and drinks high in calories, sugar, salt, fat, and alcohol. Healthy eating can also help you avoid weight gain in your belly, where more men than women tend to carry their extra pounds, and which can lead to increased risk for diabetes, heart disease, and dementia. Also, when you need a snack, eat some walnuts. They are well known for a positive impact on the health of your heart.

Get in the habit of Exercising

Staying physically active is equally important as what you are putting into your body. Whether you regularly exercise or only do one sit-up a day when getting out of bed, work your way up to 30 minutes of moderately intense exercise a day, for 5 days a week. The number one excuse for not exercising is time. Try breaking your activity down into 5 or 10 minute increments during the week, focusing on getting 150 minutes of exercise a week. The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans outlines the amounts and types of physical activity needed to maintain or improve overall health and reduce the risk of heart disease. No threshold must be exceeded before benefits begin to occur.

Reduce Your Stress

Stress in life is inevitable. The tricky thing about stress is that some of it can be healthy, but an excess can be life-threatening. Stress can make you feel overwhelmed and amplify risk both mentally and physically. Going for regular visits to your physician can help you manage any current health issues and help prevent new ones from occurring. Your doctor will also help you stay up-to-date with immunizations and recommended health screenings. Also, don’t just get check-ups for your physical health; seeing a counselor for regular mental health checkups can greatly improve your health and overall lifestyle.  

Quitting smoking

Numerous health benefits start from the moment you quit the use of tobacco. After quitting, your heart rate and blood pressure return to normal in hours. Within a day, so does your blood oxygen level. As a result of these positive results, the risk of heart attacks decreases drastically. New studies also show that your hearing and vision can be improved when you cut smoking out of your life. Most people are aware that quitting smoking is the best way to reduce their risk of lung cancer and emphysema, but there are a lot of benefits for your heart as well.

Sources:

https://www.eatright.org

https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity

https://www.cdc.gov/dotw/heart-disease-men